In the United States, the rate of maternal mortality has soared to nearly three times that of other high-income countries.

And among new mothers, mental health disorders are the leading cause of death.

Healthcare providers have made progress in addressing the most common maternal mental health disorders,

anxiety and postpartum depression.

But barriers to care remain and disproportionately affect women of color.

Ali Rogan reports as part of our race matters coverage.

Yeah, good job, Aidan.

Alassiana Jones gave birth to her son Aiden last summer.

Aidan is, I might be a little biased, but the best baby.

His favorite color is red, he's super goofy, and he loves to dance.

The birth was challenging, and soon after he was born,

once the initial flood of emotions passed,

she started feeling something else, something she'd never felt before.

I'm typically an outgoing, happy, bubbly person. However, I was not postpartum. I was self-isolating.

I was sad. I wasn't sleeping at all. Things on social media just made everything worse. It was not

pretty. It was not me. And something was wrong. Jones was experiencing postpartum depression,

which can be a severe, long-lasting mood disorder that affects roughly 14% of new moms. Yet the

majority of women experiencing maternal

mental health conditions go without treatment or a diagnosis. I know everybody says, you're not the

only one, you're not the only one. But in that moment, it feels like it. It feels like you're at the

bottom of a hole and there is no way out. While there is no single cause of postpartum depression, genetics, stress, and physiological

changes like the hormonal shifts new mothers experience all play a role.

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